


We will never speak of this again

by Animevampire1627



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: Comfort, Cute, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Rimmer and Cat, Scared Cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 06:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17441369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Animevampire1627/pseuds/Animevampire1627
Summary: Lister is determined to celebrate as many Earth holidays as he can and tonight is the Fourth of July. Nothing could go wrong, except for the fact that animals don't like the noise of fireworks. Help comes from the most unlikely source.Also on wattpad, same username.





	We will never speak of this again

"Hurry up Holly, let's get this party going." Exclaimed Lister as he put a beer pack into the table, which was already covered in so much food and drink the table seemed ready to collapse at any more added weight. 

Rimmer had scoffed at him that he was going to get fatter eating all that junk but Lister has long since learned the art of tuning him out and ignored the jab about his weight.

Looking at the crew only Kryten and Holly seemed to share his joy at the holiday, Rimmer had simply scoffed at the whole thing at Cat thought the whole thing looked incredibly tacky and for a guy who wears sequenced suits, that was saying something.

But Lister didn't care, he had decided to celebrate every holiday he knew, and ones he didn't, to stop the long days in space from becoming too repetitive and driving them all insane with boredom. He was doing them all a favour and getting plastered. It's a win-win scenario.

Tonight was the Fourth of July and Lister was really excited to celebrate one of the biggest holidays on Earth.

"So what do you do on this holiday anyways? If it's like Christmas then am I gonna have to go get presents for you again?" Questioned Cat, distain in his voice at the idea of giving away more of his shiny things simply to celebrate some holiday. He then swiped himself some fish cakes and plonked down on an empty counter still looking at the others for explanation, he was curious about human holidays and traditions, they did tend to be entertaining after all.

"No you imbecile, the Fourth of July celebrates the independence of the country America from being ruled by England. The Americans celebrate this every year by eating and setting off fireworks. Honestly that's basic history." Explained Rimmer distractedly as he looked at the computer that had the loading screen for the simulation Lister found.

Cat glared at the hologram and was about to make a snappy resort at the tone but luckily Kryten stepped in before a fight could break out.

"Sir, if I may ask, what are these 'fireworks'? I have no data in them." Questioned Kryton and Cat looked up too, also puzzled by the word. Lister thought about the best way to describe it but gave up trying to think of a lengthy explanation.

"Pretty lights in the sky." he explained simply instead.

"Firework simulation ready." Holly stated.

"All right, gather round boys! This is gonna be epic!" Lister cheered as he wrapped his arm around the neck of Kryten.

Soon the 3D simulation let loose a yellow screamer into what appeared to be the night sky and all was silent for a few moments.

Cat glanced at Lister, if that's what the Monkey considered 'epic' he needed his head checked and he was gonna leave.

"Wait for it." Whispered Lister noticing Cat's look. Cat rolled his eyes and stared at the night sky waiting for whatever was meant to happen.

As if on cue the sky lit up with multiple fireworks of different size and colours. They were certainly pretty with their intricate colours and designs but the loud bangs they made echoed throughout the small room and made them seem even louder than what they were. 

Cat's eyes widened in terror as the noise continued to assist his ear drums, making him hiss quietly while covering his sensitive ears. He felt an urge inside his chest to run away from the noise and as his instincts have yet to fail him, he decided to listen to them.

Quietly, he put his fish down and quietly, making sure the others didn't notice, crept out of the room before running off in a sprint, intending to find a place to calm his frayed nerves.

No one else had noticed the abrupt departure. No one that is apart from Rimmer, who watched the Cat run off with a puzzled look.

He pondered why he had run off for a minute before finally deciding that it was Cat and he was always weird. He turned his gaze back to the fireworks, they were way too loud to properly enjoy them. However after a few moments he almost slapped himself for his oversight.

Most animals hated the sound of fireworks, it was too loud and sudden for them and the urge to run away overwhelmed them. And considering Cat is well...part cat, of course he would be effected.

He considered telling Lister this so he could turn off the simulation before realising that the Cat would not appreciate that, he would feel as though he had wounded his pride. And a pissed off Cat was a never ending pile of annoyances

So with no other option, Rimmer left the room in search of Cat to comfort him.

As weird as it may sound, he actually enjoyed the company of the others even if they were all moronic. They were the closest thing to friends he had and to see one of them upset gave him an ugly feeling in his gut.

However finding the Cat turned out to be incredibly difficult. He looked nearly everywhere for him, the kitchen, the movie theatre, some of the vents, he even looked in the abandoned Cat city but he was still no where to be found.

He was about to pass his and Lister's shared room in his continued search for the wandering feline when he heard what sounded like a faint whimper.

Stopping in his tracks, he strained his ears for the noise again and sure enough he heard it again after a muffled firework sounded through the halls.

Opening the door to his room, everything looked normal and in place before his eyes were drawn to his bottom bunk where his bead sheets, normally tidy and tucked in, were crumpled up into a big pile at the end of his bed, shaking.

Sighing slightly, he made his way over to it. He did look for the Cat for twenty minutes to help him after all.

The bundle stopped shaking when it heard footsteps and a familiar scent coming closer.

"Alphabet head?" Cat asked, voice slightly muffled, from underneath the lump.

"Yes, it's me." He sighed and sat next to him. He debated for a few minutes as he pondered his next words before sighing out "Want to talk about it?"

No point beating around the bush, even Cat would catch on that he knew why he ran, when his pride was on the line.

Hesitantly, Cat made his way out of the bundle. Standing up to smooth the wrinkles in his clothes, he sat back down next to Rimmer.

Awkwardly since they didn't normally have conversations that weren't insults, Cat spoke to Rimmer.

"No, I'll be fine, bud. It's not even that scary."

Rimmer couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him which caused Cat to glare slightly.

But at that moment another simulation of fireworks started up, startling Cat into covering his ears with a wide eyed look of fear.

Reacting on instinct to help him, Rimmer pulled Cat closer in a sort of one armed hug but Cat barley seemed to register him. Thinking back to all he knew about animals he landed on one solution that was awkward as hell but would probably work.

He started slowly patting the other's head.

After a few seconds, Rimmer felt the awkwardness in the air. He had guessed it would end like this but it didn't stop the the hesitation of his hand. He was about to stop completely when Cat let out a purr and leaned closer.

"Don't stop." He muttered "it relaxes me." He explained as he let out another purr.

Rimmer stared at him in shock for a moment before he shrugged, he was comforting him so he shouldn't really care about how he was doing so. Besides he had seen and done way more weird stuff than this.

It was quite relaxing. He could feel the stress he had built up by organising this party, almost getting killed by asteroids the day before and not being able to find Cat all melting away.

After a few more minutes of this, Rimmer began to feel quite tired, Cat's purrs were very soothing, it was almost like a lullaby.

Looking to his right, he saw that Cat had already fallen asleep, still purring. He was almost adorable when he wasn't making side comments about him.

Smiling ever so slightly, he also got comfortable by pulling them both down to lie on the bed, before drifting off to sleep.

Hours later, Lister arrived at his room, feeling a pleasant buzz from all the alcohol he consumed.

Kryten helped him stumble into his room "Please be quite sir, Mr Rimmer may be asleep already." He whispered to the human.

"Yeah yeah." Muttered Lister as he stumbled in, not really caring if he woke Rimmer or not.

However nether one of them was prepared for the sight they were met with.

Cat had ended up snuggling into the holograms chest, still purring softly. Meanwhile Rimmer's hand was still on the Cats head, having stopped his petting when he fell asleep.

"Holly" Lister whispered "Get a photo of this."

Holly's face appeared in the screen next to them.

"Already have, saved to the data file." They informed.

"Great, now get you two, I can get to bed fine now."

"Night" said Holly as they switched off the monitor.

"Very well sir, I'll see you in the morning." Kryton said as he made his way to the simulation deck, he needed to clear up all that mess after all.

Looking back at the content pair, Lister sighed and shuck his head.

"'Bout time you two got along." He muttered as he made his way onto his bunk and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.


End file.
